308 Norma Mag project

Clayton said:

Makes a significant difference in the life of your brass. So long as you have no feeding problems, it works. However there is something to be said for FL Sizing the ammo you intend to hunt with. It provides a little more assurance of trouble free feeding a round. Keep in mind, if something can go wrong, it will. I don't know if Murphy hunted or not, but his laws do apply.

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Not to mention accuracy, since your brass is already fire formed.

7rm brass comes up a little short so won't need trimming for awhile. I use Hornady custom grade dies with a elipical sizer works fire shoots fine not into over thinking it it's not broke so I won't fix it.

I prefer to full-length size cases with the expander button removed (if using a Hornady FL die wth Zip spindle you will have to use a smaller button, because the decappng pin is headed and relies upon the button to retain it) and then expand the necks with an M die. This reduces case stretching significantly.

I will have to think of some method of designating the fire formed brass and cartridges so they don't get mixed in with the 7mm RM stuff

Check out the belted mag sizing die that will rectify the sizing difficulty just in front of the belt. Second entry down the page.
http://larrywillis.com/

VG
I've seen that die before but has anyone used one did it make a real difference?

I use this fellow's digital headspace guage and set back the shoulders < 0.002. My belief is that reduces fatigue and my 375 H&H brass is on its forth reload with no problems chambering. I use this die that @Von Gruff mentioned as a go-no-go guage but haven't had to resize with it yet

DM Shooting said:

VG
I've seen that die before but has anyone used one did it make a real difference?

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I built a 7x61 S&H about 1981 and after numerous firing the cases were starting to be hard to chamber as there was a tendency for the full length sizing to bring brass back and thicken the portion just in front of the belt that the die dosent touch and I put batches of brass asside because of that. The barrel was still good (only a 1000 rounds through it) but I ended up rebarrelling and rebuilding to the 404 Jeffery and it was only after that, that I saw the Larrywillis die. I would have certainly got one if I had kept the rifle as the 7x61

I am getting the pieces together in anticipation of the big day (I have no idea what this little fella is but he looked either excited or constipated...I went with excited)

Anyway, thinking about the bullets to use. I honestly think that the 308 NM differentiates itself with the 200 + grain offerings. I am a huge Woodleigh fan but can't get the 200 gr. I would use the 220 RN for the woods in Quebec but not Namibia. That leaves the 180 gr. Woodleigh makes a 180 for magnum cartridges with a higher BC. So I ordered a box or three

The one on top is the 180 gr for magnum calibers. Below is the 180 gr for '06 and 308 win etc. The BC is 0.435 and 0.376 respectively.

Well, I have the bullets. I guess that is a start

IIRC, back in the early 1960s near the height of inexpensive military surplus, Norma brought out the .308 Norma as just brass, with no factory produced rifle to go along with it. Again, IIRC, it was specifically developed using rechambered 1903 and '03A3 Springfields. At that time the only .300 magnums readily available were the Winchester 70 in .300 H&H and Weatherby's .300. Norma ads pointed out how easy it was to rechamber your '06. A lot of eastern Oregon mule deer hunters opened up their A3s, and put a 4 power Weaver on top. They loved the flatter trajectory tho recoil was a bit more than they were used to. Some of the 300 H&H users liked the fact the Norma didn't stretch case necks. It was well liked in 1,000 yard target shooting.
The .300 Winchester magnum was basically scared out of the bushes by the .308 Norma. To outperform the Norma, Winchester moved the shoulder of their round quite a ways forward, leaving an (at the time) radically short neck which let bullets slip under recoil when case necks were ran back out, over a too large expander button (which was the main problem w/ the .300 Holland neck stretching. The old manuals used to say that loads for the.308 Norma could be used exactly as listed in the .30-338 wildcat long range round.
Dave

I was unaware of the origin of the 308 NM until just a few moments ago. It is threads like this one that keeps me coming to AH on a regular basis. A very knowledgeable friend of mine took one to SA about 10 years ago and loved it. I wondered why and where he got it. I recently had an 03-A3 re-barreled as a 35 Whelen. I have another that I might have built as a 308 NM. Thanks for posting your project, let us know how it works out.

BTW I love your 3 rifle magazine / battery i.e. capable of everything but not over-gunned for anything.

Shootist43 said:

I was unaware of the origin of the 308 NM until just a few moments ago. It is threads like this one that keeps me coming to AH on a regular basis. A very knowledgeable friend of mine took one to SA about 10 years ago and loved it. I wondered why and where he got it. I recently had an 03-A3 re-barreled as a 35 Whelen. I have another that I might have built as a 308 NM. Thanks for posting your project, let us know how it works out.

BTW I love your 3 rifle magazine / battery i.e. capable of everything but not over-gunned for anything.

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Thanks! I am very excited so I hope it turns out well.

I think the proper term is "battery" but I mis-typed

Christian Lemieux (the gunsmith) had the rifle apart for an initial inspection. Here is an excerpt from his email:

"After trying the trigger... Fantastic! The set trigger have to be set forward to be under a short 1 lbs, otherwise it is slightly under 3 lbs. It is a very very nice rifle."

It is embarrassing how pumped I am about this. News like this makes it hard to sleep

I am not sure when he will get to work on the chamber but I have promised myself not to email him until next month...I can wait a day...Or late at night or after drinks.

We

Pheroze said:

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Christian Lemieux (the gunsmith) had the rifle apart for an initial inspection. Here is an excerpt from his email:

"After trying the trigger... Fantastic! The set trigger have to be set forward to be under a short 1 lbs, otherwise it is slightly under 3 lbs. It is a very very nice rifle."

It is embarrassing how pumped I am about this. News like this makes it hard to sleep

I am not sure when he will get to work on the chamber but I have promised myself not to email him until next month...I can wait a day...Or late at night or after drinks.

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Well that's great news. Keep this thread going with updates/pics, I'd love to see end result and a range report.

35bore said:

We

Well that's great news. Keep this thread going with updates/pics, I'd love to see end result and a range report.

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Thanks. I will update as things develop

I just built one on a Mark X Mauser as my "do it all" type of rifle. Of course, "all" in my case does not include dangerous game. I really like it. I've developed two loads for it. One is a reduced load that pushes a 150 gr Ballistic Tip at about 2650 fps and the other pushes a 180 gr Accubond at just under 3000 fps. Both are VERY accurate. For practice and shooting our local whitetails, the reduced load is perfect. Low recoil, long brass life, etc. When I go for elk or an Africa PG hunt, the 180 load should do the trick. Good luck with yours and keep us posted.

Matt McKenzie said:

I just built one on a Mark X Mauser as my "do it all" type of rifle. Of course, "all" in my case does not include dangerous game. I really like it. I've developed two loads for it. One is a reduced load that pushes a 150 gr Ballistic Tip at about 2650 fps and the other pushes a 180 gr Accubond at just under 3000 fps. Both are VERY accurate. For practice and shooting our local whitetails, the reduced load is perfect. Low recoil, long brass life, etc. When I go for elk or an Africa PG hunt, the 180 load should do the trick. Good luck with yours and keep us posted.

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Thank you. The loading down of the 150's is a great idea! I was actually puzzling over that because we don't need much power for deer at the ranges we shoot in my neck of the woods.

Matt McKenzie said:

I just built one on a Mark X Mauser as my "do it all" type of rifle. Of course, "all" in my case does not include dangerous game. I really like it. I've developed two loads for it. One is a reduced load that pushes a 150 gr Ballistic Tip at about 2650 fps and the other pushes a 180 gr Accubond at just under 3000 fps. Both are VERY accurate. For practice and shooting our local whitetails, the reduced load is perfect. Low recoil, long brass life, etc. When I go for elk or an Africa PG hunt, the 180 load should do the trick. Good luck with yours and keep us posted.

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Just for the heck of it, how about sharing your load data for both loads. This is an "obscure" caliber to say the least, your info could put new users in the right "ball-park."

I'm working up a reduced 165grain load for roe shooting it'll be 308 win 30/06 figures with luck.

Shootist43 said:

Just for the heck of it, how about sharing your load data for both loads. This is an "obscure" caliber to say the least, your info could put new users in the right "ball-park."

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I noticed that the Hornady data starting loads were in the '06 ball park.